Help! accidentally filled up with diesel

[adrianr]

Sigh. I lent the trusty workhorse to a friend while her car was off the road, and got a phone call last night to say she'd accidentally filled it with diesel.

Ho humm. Jolly recovery man came and got her, pumped out diesel & refilled with petrol but now "it runs but it's not happy".

Car is a MkII Golf, 1600 carburettor, normally runs on unleaded but doesn't have cat. I figure it's probably just got a weak diesel petrol mix in the tank now so will probably smoke a bit for a tank or two of fuel until all the diseasel is rinsed out and then recover.

True? Anything else I can do to help it? Tin of one of those fuel system cleaners maybe?

Thanks,
AdrianR

[TUS 373]

I'm not an expert, but how about some Super Plus to get the over RON in the tank up?

[CarZee]

I'd really ... .. like not .. .. to LMAO at this .. but .. I just can't .. no - sorry.. it's too much ..

If it's any consolation I have a mk2 Golf which runs badly but we've never put diesel in that so maybe they all do that sir

Sorry, man..

[S2N]

Ohh! I've done that before!

Lucky for me it was a hire car!

>> Edited by S2N on Thursday 27th March 09:46

[Bonce]

OK, hands up all the blokes who have done this?

What, nobody?

[CarZee]

You've done this, Bonce????

[sparkey]

My wife filled her TVR Vixen with it once and it actually worked for a bit !

[Bonce]

CarZee said: You've done this, Bonce????

No I bloody well haven't!
You calling me a girl?

[CarZee]

Bonce said:

CarZee said: You've done this, Bonce????

No I bloody well haven't!
You calling me a girl?

Not at all Bonce.. how about Mrs Bonce ? has she performed this quality party trick?

Will all the girly PHers descend to punch you in the chops for your chauvenist (albeit spot on) remark?

[Alan420]

If I was you I'd get it seen to professionally. I used to work for one of the major petrol retailers and we were constantly getting calls through from people who'd filled their cars wrong (our fault apparrently ).

The potential damage can apparently be quite nasty.

And yes, BTW, I never heard of a single male caller on the mis-fill hotline!

[mrsd]

Not long and who you calling girly ?

Seriously, we find this happens a lot at the garage. Providing you don't run the car for long and it's carbs rather than FI you'll be fine. It should run cleanly as soon as the last of the diesel has cleared. Running it to absolutely empty then filling up with a HDHO petrol, eg. Optimax, should sort it. In FI engines it can wreck the injectors. Which is less than good...

[adrianr]

Thanks all, that's what I thought. There are benefits to driving an old, simple car!

AdrianR

[plotloss]

Dont sweat it, this used to happen daily at my old company.

So if you happen to be driving an ex-demo Audi, VW or Nissan theres a good chance that its happened to that!

Matt.

[Exint2]

I know for a fact that F1 ITVs James Allen did exactly this in a hire car.......

[deltaf]

Maybe you post in the "technical" section Carzee....might be able to help you...

[Bodo]

Bonce said: OK, hands up all the blokes who have done this?

What, nobody?

I've once done this with a two stroke foliage blower.
The engine already had operating temperature, so it started without probs. Ran a bit smokey though

[bikerkeith]

No I haven't done it, but the last time my temperamental bike died at the side of the road, the first question the recovery bloke asked me was have I just filled up with diesel. Apparently he gets more calls for that than anything else. And not just from girls.

[Fatboy]

What sort of ****wit fills up a BIKE with diesel????

My dad once filled his FI merc with diesel - then again he is completely and utterly clueless about cars...

[nevpugh308]

I did this last night .... filled up the Toledo with diesel ....

Oh, wait, no, that's because it IS a diesel !

[Superflid]

Fatboy said: What sort of ****wit fills up a BIKE with diesel????

Somebody with one of these?



Pistonheads, cos being a smart-arse matters.